Fiftysomething rockers Mick Jagger (right), Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts played their first gig in the UK for four years last week: the delayed British leg of their "Bridges to Babylon" tour.

What's New?

Nothing really: they're still old, they're still peddling a back catalogue of "Satisfaction", "Jumping Jack Flash", "Brown Sugar" et al and they're still cool. Some critics have noted that apart from an upping of the wrinkle quota, all that changes from tour to tour are the stage sets.

What They Say About Them

"Not a small part of the band's charm is that they somehow kept their hair and their figures. Imagine this lot bald, with midriffs," Elisabeth Mahoney, The Independent.

"The music was as gnarled, leathery and cool as Richards; as lean, energetic and professional as Jagger... if I had to bet which band would be around a decade from now, I'd go for the Stones over almost any other. And if I had to bet which band would be putting on the most enthusiastic shows in 2009, I'd go for the Stones again," Nicholas Barber, The Independent on Sunday.

"One reason the Stones have survived as long as they have is that they have not allowed the hoopla to erode their core musical values," David Sinclair, The Times.

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